videvsviteTell them apart

Which to use

“vide” and “vite” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,546
“vide” frequency rank
#406
“vite” frequency rank
1952
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vide vite
Definition Qui ne contient rien ; qui est totalement dépourvu de. Rapide, qui se meut avec célérité, avec promptitude ; se dit surtout dans le sport, sinon plutôt des animaux et des choses dont le mouvement est rapide.

Where the eye mixes vide and vite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vide
4 ch
vite

Why the eye confuses vide with vite

A purely visual mix-up. vide (\vid\) and vite (\vit\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - d in “vide” becomes t in “vite”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1952, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vide is recorded at frequency rank #1,546, classified as anadj, pronounced \vid\. vite is at rank #406, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vit\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 1952, this pair ranks #437,071 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vide vs vite

Shared letters: eiv. Private to "vide": d. Private to "vite": t.

"vide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "vite" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • videivde · vdie · vidde · vied · vvide
  • viteivte · vitte · vtie · vvite

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vide" and "vite" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\vid\ versus \vit\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vide" or "vite"?
"vite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #406 in our French list, against #1,546 for "vide". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "vide" and "vite" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #437,071 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vide" and "vite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vide vs viv". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #437,071 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list